Customs to monitor clothing imported via B’desh

The customs wing has been asked by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to carefully scrutinize the origin certificates issued for consignments of clothes coming from Bangladesh. It has been reported that garments manufactured in other nations are being shipped to India via Bangladesh in order to take advantage of duty concessions offered under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement.

SAFTA makes it compulsory for 30% local value addition in least developed countries for import by other nations. These norms have been designed not only to protect the importing partner but also to ensure contribution to the exporting partner’s economy and local employment generation.

Recently in August, the DRI issued a show-cause notice to Future Enterprises alleging that these 83 garment consignments were imported from third countries and routed via Bangladesh to take advantage of zero import duty.